Replacing Text Representing a Concept with an Alternate Written Form of the Concept

ABSTRACT

A system enables a transcriptionist to replace a first written form (such as an abbreviation) of a concept with a second written form (such as an expanded form) of the same concept. For example, the system may display to the transcriptionist a draft document produced from speech by an automatic speech recognizer. If the transcriptionist recognizes a first written form of a concept that should be replaced with a second written form of the same concept, the transcriptionist may provide the system with a replacement command. In response, the system may identify the second written form of the concept and replace the first written form with the second written form in the draft document.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending and commonly-owned U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/917,363, filed on Nov. 1, 2010, entitled,“Replacing Text Representing a Concept with an Alternate Written Form ofthe Concept,” which is a continuation of co-pending and commonly-ownedU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/440,950, filed on May 25, 2006,entitled, “Replacing Text Representing a Concept with an AlternateWritten Form of the Concept,” both of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein.

This application is related to the following commonly-owned U.S. patentapplications, hereby incorporated by reference:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/923,517, filed on Aug. 20, 2004,entitled, “Automated Extraction of Semantic Content and Generation of aStructured Document from Speech”; and

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/269,094, entitled, “AutomaticDetection and Application of Editing Patterns in Draft Documents.”

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to text processing and, more particularly,to editing text in draft documents.

2. Related Art

It is desirable in many contexts to generate a structured textualdocument based on human speech. In the legal profession, for example,transcriptionists transcribe testimony given in court proceedings and indepositions to produce a written transcript of the testimony. Similarly,in the medical profession, transcripts are produced of diagnoses,prognoses, prescriptions, and other information dictated by doctors andother medical professionals. Transcripts in these and other fieldstypically need to be highly accurate (as measured in terms of the degreeof correspondence between the semantic content (meaning) of the originalspeech and the semantic content of the resulting transcript) because ofthe reliance placed on the resulting transcripts and the harm that couldresult from an inaccuracy (such as providing an incorrect prescriptiondrug to a patient).

It may be difficult to produce an initial transcript that is highlyaccurate for a variety of reasons, such as variations in: (1) featuresof the speakers whose speech is transcribed (e.g., accent, volume,dialect, speed); (2) external conditions (e.g., background noise); (3)the transcriptionist or transcription system (e.g., imperfect hearing oraudio capture capabilities, imperfect understanding of language); or (4)the recording/transmission medium (e.g., paper, analog audio tape,analog telephone network, compression algorithms applied in digitaltelephone networks, and noises/artifacts due to cell phone channels).

The first draft of a transcript, whether produced by a humantranscriptionist or an automated speech recognition system, maytherefore include a variety of errors. Typically it is necessary toproofread and edit such draft documents to correct the errors containedtherein. Transcription errors that need correction may include, forexample, any of the following: missing words or word sequences;excessive wording; mis-spelled, -typed, or -recognized words; missing orexcessive punctuation; and incorrect document structure (such asincorrect, missing, or redundant sections, enumerations, paragraphs, orlists).

In some circumstances, however, a verbatim transcript is not desired. Infact, transcriptionists may intentionally introduce a variety of changesinto the written transcription. A transcriptionist may, for example,filter out spontaneous speech effects (e.g., pause fillers, hesitations,and false starts), discard irrelevant remarks and comments, convert datainto a standard format, insert headings or other explanatory materials,or change the sequence of the speech to fit the structure of a writtenreport.

Furthermore, formatting requirements may make it necessary to edit evenphrases that have been transcribed correctly so that such phrases complywith the formatting requirements. For example, abbreviations andacronyms may need to be fully spelled out. This is one example of a kindof “editing pattern” that may need to be applied even in the absence ofa transcription error.

Such error correction and other editing is typically performed by humanproofreaders and can be tedious, time-consuming, costly, and itselferror-prone. Although various techniques have been developed whichattempt to automatically detect and correct errors in draft documents,such techniques typically attempt to produce documents which are asclose to verbatim transcripts of the source speech as possible. Suchtechniques, therefore, are of little or no use for making corrections orother changes for the purpose of producing documents that are notverbatim transcripts of the source speech.

SUMMARY

Techniques are disclosed for enabling a transcriptionist to replace afirst written form (such as an abbreviation) of a concept with a secondwritten form (such as an expanded form) of the same concept. Forexample, the system may display to the transcriptionist a draft documentproduced from speech by an automatic speech recognizer. If thetranscriptionist recognizes a first written form of a concept thatshould be replaced with a second written form of the same concept, thetranscriptionist may provide the system with a replacement command. Inresponse, the system may identify the second written form of the conceptand replace the first written form with the second written form in thedraft document.

One aspect of the present invention is directed to acomputer-implemented method comprising: (A) identifying a first phrase,the first phrase representing a first written form of a concept; (B)identifying a two-way mapping between the first phrase and a secondphrase, the second phrase representing a second written form of theconcept; and (C) replacing the first phrase with the second phrase.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to acomputer-implemented method comprising: (A) identifying a first phrase,the first phrase representing a first written form of a concept; (B)determining whether a plurality of text keys includes a matching textkey having at least a predetermined degree of similarity to the firstphrase; and (C) if the plurality of text keys is determined to includethe matching text key, then: (C)(i) identifying a text value associatedwith the text key; and (C)(ii) replacing the first phrase with the textvalue.

A further aspect of the present invention is directed to acomputer-implemented method comprising: (A) identifying a first phrase,the first phrase representing an expanded written form of a concept; (B)receiving an instruction from a user to modify the first phrase; (C) inresponse to receipt of the instruction, identifying a second phraserepresenting an abbreviated written form of the concept; and (D)replacing the first phrase with the second phrase; wherein theinstruction does not include the second phrase.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is directed to acomputer-implemented method comprising: (A) generating a document usingan automatic speech recognizer; (B) receiving an instruction from a userto modify a first phrase in the document, the first phrase representinga first written form of a concept; (C) identifying a two-way mappingbetween the first phrase and a second phrase, the second phraserepresenting a second written form of the concept; and (D) in responseto receipt of the instruction, replacing the first phrase with thesecond phrase in the document.

Other features and advantages of various aspects and embodiments of thepresent invention will become apparent from the following descriptionand from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a dataflow diagram of a system for replacing a first writtenform of a concept with a second written form of the concept in a draftdocument according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method performed by the system of FIG. 1according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a dataflow diagram of a portion of the system of FIG. 1according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method performed by the system of FIG. 3according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a written form dictionary for use in embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for using the written form dictionaryof FIG. 5 to select replacement text according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of another written form dictionary for use inembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for using the written form dictionaryof FIG. 7 to select replacement text according to one embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIGS. 9A-9C are illustrations of graphical user interfaces provided byembodiments of the present invention for replacing one written form of aconcept with another.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As described above, various techniques have been developed which attemptto automatically detect and correct errors in draft documents, with theintent of producing a document which is as close to a verbatimtranscript of the source speech as possible. In some circumstances,however, it is desirable to produce a document which is not necessarilya verbatim transcript of the source speech. For example, a medicaltranscriptionist may be required to transcribe a dictated medical reportinto a document having a particular format that is dictated by law orpolicy. The mandatory document format may require, for example, thatcertain terms be transcribed using prescribed abbreviations (e.g.,acronyms), regardless of the form in which such terms were dictated. Insuch an example, the transcriptionist may need to produce documentswhich are not verbatim transcripts of the source speech from which thedocuments are produced.

Consider an example in which an automatic speech recognizer produces adraft transcript of a dictated medical report. FIG. 9A is anillustration of such a draft transcript, as it may be rendered in awindow 900 a of a text editor. A medical transcriptionist is assigned toreview and edit the draft transcript to produce a final transcript orother report based on the dictation. Now assume that the drafttranscript includes the phrase “cerebrovascular accident” (illustratedby text 904), which is a verbatim transcription of the phrase dictatedby the doctor. Further assume, however, that the medicaltranscriptionist is required to use the abbreviation “CVA” in thetranscript in place of the expanded form “cerebrovascular accident.”Such an abbreviation may be required, for example, by the format of theparticular report being produced by the transcriptionist.

The medical transcriptionist could make the draft document comply withthe required report format by manually deleting the phrase“cerebrovascular accident” and manually typing “CVA” in its place. Thissolution, however, would be tedious and time-consuming.

Alternatively, the medical transcriptionist could use a global “searchand replace” command to replace all instances of “cerebrovascularaccident” with “CVA”. But making such modifications in this way has anumber of disadvantages. For example, it may be desirable or necessaryfor the transcriptionist to edit the draft transcript serially, in otherwords, by reviewing the transcribed text in sequence and makingmodifications as they are observed. The medical transcriptionist may,for example, edit the draft transcript while listening to a recording ofthe source speech. A global “search and replace” command would makemodifications to the document out of sequence, thereby breaking the flowof the editing process.

Furthermore, a global “search and replace” command might actuallyintroduce errors into the draft transcript. For example, it might benecessary to use the phrase “cerebrovascular accident” in certainsections of the document and “CVA” in other sections of the document.Simply replacing all instances of “cerebrovascular accident” with “CVA”would produce a result inconsistent with such a report format, therebyrequiring further review and editing by the medical transcriptionist.

In summary, one problem faced by the medical transcriptionist is that adraft transcript may contain an expanded written form (e.g.,“cerebrovascular accident”) of a particular concept when an abbreviatedwritten form (e.g., “CVA”) is needed or desired, and that the transcriptmay contain the abbreviated written form of the concept when theexpanded written form is needed or desired. It may be difficult orimpossible to provide an automated system for consistently producing thecorrect written form because, for example, the correct choice of writtenform (e.g., expanded or abbreviated) may depend on context. As a result,it is desirable to provide the medical transcriptionist with a systemthat simplifies and at least partially automates the process ofreplacing one written form of a concept with another.

Referring to FIG. 1, a dataflow diagram is shown of a system 100 forproviding such a solution according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 2, a flowchart is shown of a method 200performed by the system 100 of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. In general, an automatic transcription system 104produces a draft transcript 106 of a spoken audio stream 102 (FIG. 2,step 202). A transcriptionist 110 uses an editing system 108 to edit thedraft transcript 106, thereby producing an edited transcript 112 (FIG.2, step 204).

Referring to FIG. 3, a dataflow diagram is shown of a portion of thesystem 100 in more detail according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 4, a flowchart is shown of a method 400performed by the portion of the system 100 shown in FIG. 4 according toone embodiment of the present invention. The editing system 108 displaysthe draft transcript 106 to the transcriptionist 110 (FIG. 4, step 402).Referring again to FIG. 9A, an example illustration of the drafttranscript 106 is shown, as it may be rendered in a window 900 a of theediting system 108.

Although not shown in FIGS. 3-4, the editing system 108 may also playthe spoken audio stream 102 to the transcriptionist 110. The editingsystem 108 may, for example, incrementally display text in the drafttranscript 106 as the corresponding speech in the spoken audio stream102 is played.

A first phrase 306, representing a first written form of a concept, isidentified in the draft transcript 106 (step 404). In the followingdiscussion, a cerebrovascular accident will be used as an example of aconcept, the text “cerebrovascular accident” will be used as a first(expanded) written form of that concept, and “CVA” will be used as asecond (abbreviated) written form of that concept.

The first phrase 306 may be identified in any of a variety of ways. Forexample, the transcriptionist 110 may identify the first phrase 306 andprovide the editing system 108 with input 302 indicating the firstphrase 306. The transcriptionist 110 may identify the first phrase 306by, for example, placing a text cursor within the first phrase 306 in adisplay of the draft transcript 106, or by highlighting the first phrase306 in a display of the draft transcript 106. For example, in FIG. 9Athe transcriptionist 110 has placed a text cursor 904 immediately afterthe text representing the first phrase 306 to select the first phase306.

Alternatively, the editing system 108 may identify the first phrase 306.For example, and as described in more detail below, the editing system108 may maintain a dictionary of alternate written forms of variousconcepts. When the editing system 108 displays text in the drafttranscript 106 to the transcriptionist 110, the editing system 108 maydetermine, by reference to the dictionary, whether the displayed text isan alternate written form of a concept. If so, the editing system 108may identify the text as the first phrase 306 in step 404.

Assume, for example, that the first phrase 306 is “cerebrovascularaccident,” and that the transcriptionist 110 identifies this phrase byplacing a text cursor within or near the phrase while viewing the drafttranscript 106. The transcriptionist 110 may identify this phrasebecause the transcriptionist 110 knows, for example, that the reportformat applicable to the draft transcript 106 instead requires thephrase “CVA” to be used in the current context.

The transcriptionist 110 provides an instruction 304 to the editingsystem 108 to modify the identified first phrase 306 (step 406). Theinstruction 304 may take any of a variety of forms. For example, thetranscriptionist 110 may provide the instruction 304 by double-clickingon the first phrase 306 in the draft transcript 106, or by pressing apredetermined key or key combination.

In response to receiving the instruction 304, a second phrase identifier312 in the editing system 108 identifies a second phrase 308representing a second written form of the concept (step 408). Forexample, if the first phrase 306 is “cerebrovascular accident,” thesecond phrase 308 may be “CVA,” both of which represent the concept of acerebrovascular accident. Examples of ways in which the editing system108 may identify the second phrase 308 are described in more detailbelow.

The editing system 108 includes a text replacer 310 which replaces thefirst phrase 306 with the second phrase 308 in the draft transcript 106,thereby producing the edited transcript 112, in which the second phrase308 substitutes for the first phrase 306 (step 410). Note that steps404-410 may be repeated for multiple phrases.

Referring to FIG. 9B, an example illustration of the edited transcript112 is shown, as it may be rendered in a window 900 b of the editingsystem 108. The rendering shown in FIG. 900 b includes text 902 brepresenting the second phrase 308 (“CVA”), which has replaced the firstphrase 306 (“cerebrovascular accident”). If the transcriptionist 110provides the replacement instruction 304 again, the editing system 108may replace the second phrase 308 with the first phrase 306, as shown inFIG. 9C (in which window 900 c includes text 902 c representing thefirst phrase 306).

As mentioned above, when a first phrase representing a first writtenform of a concept is identified, the editing system 108 may identify asecond phrase representing a second written form of the same concept(FIG. 4, step 408). Referring to FIG. 5, one embodiment of the editingsystem 108 is shown which identifies the second phrase 308 using awritten form dictionary 500. Referring to FIG. 6, a flowchart is shownof a method used by the editing system 108 to identify the second phrase308 using the written form dictionary 500, and thereby to implement step408 of FIG. 4, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, written form dictionary 500 includesindividual mappings 502 a-n, where n may be any number. Each of themappings 502 a-n corresponds to a concept. For purposes of example,assume that mapping 502 a corresponds to the concept of acerebrovascular accident. Mapping 502 b may correspond to a differentconcept, such as the concept of milligrams (which may be represented,for example, by the alternate written forms “milligrams” and “mg”). Moregenerally, mappings 502 a-n map first written forms 504 a to secondwritten forms 504 b.

Once the first phrase 306 has been identified (FIG. 4, step 404), theediting system 108 may identify the second phrase 308 as follows. Theediting system 108 may search the mappings 502 a-n in the written formdictionary 500 for a written form that matches the first phrase 306(step 602). The editing system 108 may search for a written form thatexactly matches the first phrase 306. Alternatively, however, apredetermined minimum degree of required similarity may be defined, andthe editing system 108 may search for a written form that has at leastthe predetermined minimum degree of similarity to the first phrase.

The editing system 108 may perform the search by searching the firstwritten forms 504 a in the mappings 502 a-n (step 602 a), the secondwritten forms 504 b in the mappings 502 a-n (step 602 b), or both. Ifthe editing system 108 searches only the first written forms 504 a, thenthe mappings 502 a-n are effectively one-way mappings from the firstwritten forms 504 a to the second written forms 504 b. Similarly, if theediting system 108 searches only the second written forms 504 b, thenthe mappings 502 a-n are effectively one-way mappings from the secondwritten forms 504 b to the first written forms 504 a. If the editingsystem 108 searches both the first written forms 504 a and the secondwritten forms 504 b, then the mappings 502 a-n are effectively two-waymappings between the first written forms 504 a and the second writtenforms 504 b.

If a (sufficiently) matching written form is found in the written formdictionary 500 (step 604), then the editing system 108 identifies thecorresponding written form to which the matching written form is mapped(step 606). For example, if one of the first written forms 504 a isidentified in step 602 as a match for the first phrase 306, then in step606 the editing system 108 identifies the corresponding one of thesecond written forms 504 b. As a specific example, if the first form 504a of mapping 502 a (“cerebrovascular accident”) is identified in step602 as matching the first phrase 306 (“cerebrovascular accident”), thenin step 606 the editing system 108 identifies the corresponding secondwritten form 504 b of mapping 502 a (“CVA”). The editing system 108 thenselects the mapped written form as the second phrase 308 (step 608).

As described above with respect to FIG. 4, once the editing system 108has identified the second phrase 308, the editing system 108 may replacethe first phrase 306 with the second phrase 308 in the draft transcript106, thereby producing the edited transcript 112 (step 410).

Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to mappings betweena pair of written forms. A mapping may map three or more written forms,representing the same concept, to each other. Such mappings may beuseful, for example, when a single abbreviation (such as “CVA”) is anabbreviation for multiple terms (such as “cerebrovascular accident” and“costovertebral angle”). In such a case, if the abbreviation “CVA”appears in the draft transcript 106, it would be useful to provide thetranscriptionist 110 with the ability to replace the abbreviation “CVA”with either “cerebrovascular accident” or “costovertebral angle.”Embodiments of the present invention which provide the transcriptionist110 with this ability will now be described.

As mentioned above, when a first phrase representing a first writtenform of a concept is identified, the editing system 108 may identify asecond phrase representing a second written form of the same concept(FIG. 4, step 408). As has now been explained, the second phrase neednot be the only alternate written form of the concept represented by thefirst phrase. Rather, the second phrase may be one of multiple alternatewritten forms of the concept represented by the first phrase.

Referring to FIG. 7, one embodiment of the editing system 108 is shownwhich identifies the second phrase 308 using a written form dictionary700. Referring to FIG. 8, a flowchart is shown of a method used by theediting system 108 to identify the second phrase 308 using the writtenform dictionary 700, and thereby to implement step 408 of FIG. 4,according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, written form dictionary 700 includesmappings 702 a-n, where n may be any number. Each of the mappings 702a-n corresponds to a concept. For purposes of example, assume thatmapping 502 a corresponds to phrases having the abbreviation “CVA”.

Unlike the mappings 502 a-n in FIG. 5, the mappings 702 a-n in FIG. 7map more than two written forms to each other. More specifically, eachof the mappings 702 a-n maps up to m written forms of a concept to eachother, as represented by columns 704 a-m. Note, however, that each ofthe mappings 702 a-n need not include the same number of written forms.For example, mapping 702 a may map three forms (e.g., “CVA” as the firstform 704 a, “cerebrovascular accident” as the second form 704 b, and“costovertebral angle” as the mth form 704 m), while mapping 702 b maptwo forms (e.g., “milligrams” as the first form 704 a and “mg” as thesecond form 704 b) to each other.

Once the first phrase 306 has been identified (FIG. 4, step 404), theediting system 108 may identify the second phrase 308 as follows. Theediting system 108 may search the written form dictionary 700 for awritten form that matches the first phrase 306 (FIG. 8, step 802). Theediting system 108 may search for a written form that exactly matchesthe first phrase 306. Alternatively, however, a predetermined minimumdegree of required similarity may be defined, and the editing system 108may search for a written form that has at least the predeterminedminimum degree of similarity to the first phrase.

The editing system 108 may perform the search by searching anycombination of the written forms of each of the mappings 702 a-n (steps802 a-m). For example, the editing system 108 may search only the firstwritten forms 704 a in the mappings 702 a-n (step 802 a), only thesecond written forms 704 b in the mappings 702 a-n (step 802 b), etc.Alternatively, for example, the editing system 108 may search allwritten forms 704 a-m of the mappings 702 a-n.

One benefit of searching through only the first written forms 704 a isthat it allows different sets of alternatives to be provided to thetranscriptionist 110 depending on which written form originally appearedin the draft transcript 106. For example, consider the case in which thewritten form dictionary 700 includes the following mappings: (1) “CVA”,“cerebrovascular accident”, “costovertebral angle”; (2) “cerebrovascularaccident”, “CVA”; and (3) “costovertebral angle”, “CVA”. If the firstwritten form in each mapping is used as a key into each mapping, then ifthe abbreviation “CVA” appears in the draft transcript 106, thetranscriptionist 110 will be provided with the alternatives“cerebrovascular accident” and “costovertebral angle”, because both ofthese are alternative written forms of “CVA”. If, however, the phrase“cerebrovascular accident” appears in the draft transcript 106, thetranscriptionist 110 will only be provided with the alternative “CVA”,reflecting the fact that “costovertebral angle” is not a validalternative to “cerebrovascular accident”.

More generally, the written form dictionary 700 may be viewed as anundirected and possibly unconnected graph with written forms as nodesand arcs given by the written form mappings 702 a-n. When cyclingthrough written forms, the editing system 108 may cycle between allwritten forms connected directly (through a single graph arc) with theoriginal written form given by the longest match under the text cursor.

Returning to the example of FIG. 8, if a (sufficiently) matching writtenform is found in the written form dictionary 700 (step 804), then theediting system 108 identifies one of the corresponding written forms towhich the matching written form is mapped (step 806). Consider again anexample of mapping 702 a in which the first form 704 a is “CVA”, thesecond form 704 b is “cerebrovascular accident”, and the mth (3^(rd))form 704 m is “costovertebral angle.” If the first phrase 306 is “CVA”,then the first phrase 306 will match the first form 704 a in the mapping702 a in step 802. In such a case, any of the corresponding forms 704b-m in the mapping 702 a may be selected as the second phrase 308 (step808). The editing system 108 may select one of the corresponding forms704 b-m as the second phrase 308 in any of a variety of ways.

For example, the editing system 108 may treat the forms 704 a-m inmapping 702 a as an ordered list. The editing system 108 may select thenext form in the list as the second phrase 308. For example, if thefirst phrase 306 matches the first form 704 a (e.g., “CVA”), the editingsystem 108 may select the second form 704 b (e.g., “cerebrovascularaccident”) as the second phrase 308. If, however, the first phrase 306matches the second form 704 b (e.g., “cerebrovascular accident”), theediting system 108 may select the third form 704 m (e.g.,“costovertebral angle”) as the second phrase 308 (since, in thisexample, m=3). If the first phrase 306 matches the mth form 704 m (e.g.,“costovertebral angle”), the editing system 108 may select the firstform 704 a (e.g., “CVA”) as the second phrase 308.

In practice, this technique enables the transcriptionist 110 to cyclethrough alternative forms and to select one of them to replace the firstphrase 306. Recall that the transcriptionist 110 may select the secondphrase 308 by placing a text cursor within the first phrase and hittinga predetermined hotkey. By repeatedly pressing the hotkey, thetranscriptionist 110 may cycle through alternative forms of the firstphrase 306 until a desired replacement is found.

Note that in the case where the first phrase 306 matches a written formin a mapping having only two applicable alternate forms, cycling throughalternate forms may have the effect of toggling between the twoapplicable alternate forms. For example, if the two applicable alternateforms are “CVA” and “cerebrovascular accident,” repeatedly pressing thehotkey will cause the editing system 108 to toggle between the phrases“CVA” and “cerebrovascular accident” in the draft transcript 106.

The editing system 108 may select one of the corresponding forms 704 b-mas the second phrase 308 in other ways. For example, if there aremultiple alternate written forms for the first form 704 a, the editingsystem 108 may display a list of all of the alternatives (e.g.,“cerebrovascular accident” and “costovertebral angle”) to thetranscriptionist 110, and enable the transcriptionist 110 to select oneof the alternatives in the list as the second phrase 308.

Furthermore, the editing system 108 may limit the number of alternatewritten forms made available to the transcriptionist 110 based on thecontext of the first phrase 306 in the draft transcript 106. Forexample, certain forms may be marked as suitable for use only in certaincontexts (e.g., certain sections of the draft transcript 106). If thefirst phrase 306 matches the first form 704 a in the mapping 702 a, butthe second form 704 b in the mapping 702 a is marked as not suitable foruse in the same context as the context of the first phrase 306 in thedraft transcript 106, the editing system 108 may not provide the secondform 704 b as an alternative to the transcriptionist 110.

As described above with respect to FIG. 4, once the editing system 108has identified the second phrase 308, the editing system 108 may replacethe first phrase 306 with the second phrase 308 in the draft transcript106, thereby producing the edited transcript 308 (step 410).

Among the advantages of the invention are one or more of the following.Embodiments of the present invention may be used to decrease the timeand effort required by the transcriptionist 110 to edit the drafttranscript 106 and thereby to produce the edited transcript 112. Timeand effort are reduced because the transcriptionist 110 need notmanually type corrections to text in the draft transcript 106. Instead,the transcriptionist 110 may make such corrections simply by identifyingthe text to be modified, and by issuing an instruction to replace thattext with an alternate written form of the same concept. The instructionitself need not contain the replacement text. The transcriptionist 110may perform such actions using one or a small number of gestures, suchas a single mouse click to identify the text to be modified and a singlekeystroke to issue the replacement instruction.

In addition to reducing the number of physical gestures performed by thetranscriptionist 110, the techniques disclosed herein also reduce theburden on the transcriptionist 110 to remember and identify thereplacement text. In a conventional system, if the transcriptionist 110sees the phrase “cerebrovascular accident” and recognizes that it needsto be replaced with an abbreviation, the transcriptionist 110 may needto remember that the correct replacement abbreviation is “CVA,” ratherthan “CV” or “CA.” The techniques disclosed herein may reduce oreliminate the need for the transcriptionist 110 to remember the correctreplacement text. If, for example, the written form dictionary containsa single mapping from the expanded form “cerebrovascular accident” tothe abbreviation “CVA,” then the transcriptionist 110 may simply selectthe expanded form and issue the replacement instruction, in response towhich the editing system 108 may automatically replace the expanded formwith the correct abbreviation. Even in cases where there are more thantwo alternate written forms of a particular concept, the system'sability to display the available alternatives to the transcriptionist110 reduces the burden on the transcriptionist 110 to remember suchalternatives and to select the correct one for use as replacement text.

Because the techniques disclosed herein may be used in conjunction withdraft transcripts generated by automatic speech recognizers, the timeand effort required by the transcriptionist 110 are further reduced incomparison to systems requiring the transcriptionist 110 to manuallytranscribe the spoken audio stream 102.

Because the techniques disclosed herein may be used to make changes toindividual phrases as they are being observed by the transcriptionist,such techniques are suitable for use in conventional documenttranscription workflows. Unlike a conventional word processor globalsearch and replace function, for example, the techniques disclosedherein do not require changes to be made out-of-sequence in thetranscript. Furthermore, the transcriptionist 110 may identify textrequiring correction while viewing the document in sequence, and whilelistening to the corresponding audio stream 102. Such techniques maytherefore be seamlessly integrated into conventional documenttranscription workflows.

The techniques disclosed herein may select potential and actualreplacement text (e.g., the second phrase 308) based not only on thetext to be replaced (e.g., the first phrase 306) but also on the contextof such text in the draft transcript 106. For example, the set ofavailable alternate written forms may differ depending on the section ofthe draft transcript 106 in which the first phrase 306 appears. Thissimplifies the transcriptionist's task, because it limits the number ofalternatives the transcriptionist 110 needs to consider, and reduces thelikelihood that the transcriptionist 110 will select the wrongreplacement text by preventing the transcriptionist 110 from selectingreplacement text that has been determined not to be appropriate for thecurrent context.

Furthermore, the techniques disclosed herein may improve the overallquality of the resulting edited transcript 112, such as by facilitatingadherence to formatting instructions and compliance with best practices.For example, the transcriptionist 110 may be presented with only thosealternate written forms that adhere to formatting instructions or thatcomply with best practices. Presentation of such alternate written formsto the transcriptionist 110 reduces the burden on the transcriptionist110 to remember which alternate written forms comply with the formattinginstructions and/or best practices, and thereby increases the likelihoodthat such formatting instructions and/or best practices will befollowed.

The techniques disclosed herein may be used not only to replaceabbreviations with their expanded forms, but also to replace expandedforms with their abbreviations. This feature is beneficial because, forexample, an abbreviated written form of a concept may be appropriate foruse in a certain context, while an expanded written form of the sameconcept may be appropriate for use in a different context. Thetechniques disclosed herein enable the transcriptionist 110 to makereplacements in either direction easily depending on the current contextand/or other considerations.

It is to be understood that although the invention has been describedabove in terms of particular embodiments, the foregoing embodiments areprovided as illustrative only, and do not limit or define the scope ofthe invention. Various other embodiments, including but not limited tothe following, are also within the scope of the claims. For example,elements and components described herein may be further divided intoadditional components or joined together to form fewer components forperforming the same functions.

Although certain examples provided herein involve mappings between anabbreviation and an expanded form of a concept, alternate written formsof a concept need not be in an abbreviation-expanded form relationship.Rather, the techniques disclosed herein may be used in conjunction withmappings between any two or more written forms of a concept. Examples ofsuch mappings include alternate spellings of the same concept and aconcept expressed in different languages.

Although certain examples provided herein involve documents generated bya speech recognizer, this is not a requirement of the present invention.Rather, the techniques disclosed herein may be applied to any kind ofdocument, regardless of how it was generated. Such techniques may, forexample, be used in conjunction with documents typed using conventionaltext editors.

Mappings between alternate written forms of a concept need not bebidirectional. For example, “cerebrovascular accident” may map to “CVA”,but “CVA” need not map to “cerebrovascular accident.”

Furthermore, the same phrase may be a written form of multiple concepts.Consider, for example, the case in which the written form dictionaryincludes the mappings (“cerebrovascular accident”, “CVA”) and (“CVA”,“costovertebral angle”). This is an example in which a single phrase(“CVA”) is a written form of multiple concepts (“cerebrovascularaccident” and “costovertebral angle”). In this case, the editing system108 may identify a list of alternative written forms of both concepts,such as {“cerebrovascular accident”, “CVA”, “costovertebral angle”}.Note that this list includes written forms of multiple concepts. Thetranscriptionist 110 may be presented with this list of alternativewritten forms from which to select as the replacement text.

As described above, the transcriptionist 110 may select the first phrase306 without fully specifying it. For example, the transcriptionist 110may select the first phrase 306 by placing a text cursor within thefirst phrase 306. In such a case, the editing system 108 needs toidentify the first phrase 306 based on the position of the cursor. Theediting system 108 may do this in a variety of ways. Assume for purposesof example that the transcriptionist 110 places the cursor after the “t”in “cerebrovascular accident.” The editing system 108 may attempt toidentify the first phrase 306 by expanding the text selection outwardfrom the cursor position until a complete word (i.e., “accident”) isidentified. The editing system 108 may then attempt to find a match forthe identified word in the mappings.

If no match is found, the editing system 108 may expand the textselection (e.g., to “cerebrovascular accident”) until a match is foundin the written form dictionary, or until the text selection includessome predetermined maximum number of words (e.g., five). As analternative, the editing system 108 may identify the longest phrase inthe written form dictionary that includes the selected text as the firstphrase. If multiple matches are found, the editing system 108 may, forexample, select one of the matches randomly as the first phrase 306.

The term “concept” as used herein includes, for example, dates, times,numbers, codes, medications, medical history, diagnoses, prescriptions,phrases, enumerations, and section cues. A concept may be spoken andwritten in a variety of ways. Each way of speaking a particularlyconcept is referred to herein as a “spoken form” of the concept. Eachway of writing a particular concept is referred to herein as a “writtenform” of the concept. A distinction is sometimes made between “semantic”concepts and “syntactic” concepts. The term “concept” as used hereinincludes both semantic concepts and syntactic concepts, but is notlimited to either and does not rely on any particular definition of“semantic concept” or “syntactic concept” or on any distinction betweenthe two.

The spoken audio stream may be any audio stream, such as a live audiostream received directly or indirectly (such as over a telephone or IPconnection), or an audio stream recorded on any medium and in anyformat. In distributed speech recognition (DSR), a client performspreprocessing on an audio stream to produce a processed audio streamthat is transmitted to a server, which performs speech recognition onthe processed audio stream. The audio stream 302 may, for example, be aprocessed audio stream produced by a DSR client.

The invention is not limited to any of the described domains (such asthe medical and legal fields), but generally applies to any kind ofdocuments in any domain. Furthermore, documents used in conjunction withembodiments of the present invention may be represented in anymachine-readable form. Such forms include plain text documents andstructured documents represented in markup languages such as XML. Suchdocuments may be stored in any computer-readable medium and transmittedusing any kind of communications channel and protocol.

The techniques described above may be implemented, for example, inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. The techniquesdescribed above may be implemented in one or more computer programsexecuting on a programmable computer including a processor, a storagemedium readable by the processor (including, for example, volatile andnon-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device,and at least one output device. Program code may be applied to inputentered using the input device to perform the functions described and togenerate output. The output may be provided to one or more outputdevices.

Each computer program within the scope of the claims below may beimplemented in any programming language, such as assembly language,machine language, a high-level procedural programming language, or anobject-oriented programming language. The programming language may, forexample, be a compiled or interpreted programming language.

Each such computer program may be implemented in a computer programproduct tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device forexecution by a computer processor. Method steps of the invention may beperformed by a computer processor executing a program tangibly embodiedon a computer-readable medium to perform functions of the invention byoperating on input and generating output. Suitable processors include,by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors.Generally, the processor receives instructions and data from a read-onlymemory and/or a random access memory. Storage devices suitable fortangibly embodying computer program instructions include, for example,all forms of non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices,including EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks suchas internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; andCD-ROMs. Any of the foregoing may be supplemented by, or incorporatedin, specially-designed ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits)or FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays). A computer can generally alsoreceive programs and data from a storage medium such as an internal disk(not shown) or a removable disk. These elements will also be found in aconventional desktop or workstation computer as well as other computerssuitable for executing computer programs implementing the methodsdescribed herein, which may be used in conjunction with any digitalprint engine or marking engine, display monitor, or other raster outputdevice capable of producing color or gray scale pixels on paper, film,display screen, or other output medium.

1. A computer-implemented method for use with a document tangibly storedin a first computer-readable medium, the method comprising: (A)accessing the first computer-readable medium to identify a first phrasewithin the document, the first phrase representing a first written formof a concept; (B) identifying a plurality of phrases tangibly stored ina second computer-readable medium, each of the plurality of phrasesrepresenting an alternative written form of the concept; (C) displayingat least some of the plurality of phrases to a user; and (D) receiving,from the user, an instruction to—replace the first phrase with one ofthe plurality of phrases in the document on the first computer-readablemedium, wherein the instruction does not include the one of theplurality of phrases.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein (A) furthercomprises receiving an instruction from the user identifying the firstphrase.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein (A) further comprisesidentifying the first phrase based upon a position of a cursor in thedocument.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising identifying textat the position of the cursor in the document as the first phrase. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein (C) further comprises identifying the atleast some of the plurality of phrases to display based on a context ofthe first phrase in the document.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein (C)comprises displaying a single of the plurality of phrases to the user.7. The method of claim 1, wherein (C) comprises displaying multiple onesof the plurality of phrases to the user.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein (C) comprises displaying a first subset of the plurality ofphrases to the user, and where the method further comprises: (E) before(D), receiving an instruction to display a second subset of theplurality of phrases to the user.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein (D)further comprises receiving an instruction generated by the user using asingle keystroke.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: (E)replacing the first phrase with the one of the plurality of phrases. 11.An apparatus for use with a document tangibly stored in a firstcomputer-readable medium, the apparatus comprising: means for accessingthe first computer-readable medium to identify a first phrase within thedocument, the first phrase representing a first written form of aconcept; means for identifying a plurality of phrases tangibly stored ina second computer-readable medium, each of the plurality of phrasesrepresenting an alternative written form of the concept; means fordisplaying at least some of the plurality of phrases to a user; andmeans for receiving an instruction to replace the first phrase with oneof the plurality of phrases in the document on the firstcomputer-readable medium, wherein the instruction does not include theone of the plurality of phrases.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, furthercomprising means for receiving an instruction from the user identifyingthe first phrase.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprisingmeans for identifying the first phrase based upon a position of a cursorin the document.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising meansfor identifying text at the position of the cursor in the document asthe first phrase.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprisingmeans for identifying the at least some of the plurality of phrases todisplay based on a context of the first phrase in the document.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 11, further comprising means for displaying a singleof the plurality of phrases to the user.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11,further comprising means for displaying multiple ones of the pluralityof phrases to the user.
 18. The apparatus of claim 11, furthercomprising: means for displaying a first subset of the plurality ofphrases to the user; and means for receiving, before receiving theinstruction to replace, an instruction to display a second subset of theplurality of phrases to the user.
 19. The apparatus of claim 11, furthercomprising means for receiving an instruction generated by the userusing a single keystroke.
 20. The apparatus of claim 11, furthercomprising means for replacing the first phrase with the one of theplurality of phrases.